Newsletter September 17, 2022: What Every Oak Bay Resident Needs to Know
Council’s single-family neighbourhood secondary suite and infill densification initiatives process has shown little regard for residents’ interests. Nothing stands out as much as failing to recognize the many sacrifices that so many residents made so they could buy a home in Oak Bay. Oak Bay’s, livable, uncongested and quiet single-family neighbourhoods were obviously a major factor in their choice.
However, Council intends to change these desirable qualities by amending the “ground rules”. At the September 8, 2022 Secondary Suite Public Meeting staff stated that amending the zoning to allow a secondary suite in any single-family home would add a second dwelling. In effect, the new zoning will make Oak Bay a double-family neighbourhood. Does Council really expect residents to believe that this dramatic change will not negatively impact the Community in so many ways.
Notwithstanding that secondary suites will cause so many problems, some unsolvable, for the District and residents without rental income, it Is not clear why Council members believe they have to respond to the Provincial Government’s threats to intervene if a community does not approve unwanted densification. The Province and Development industry has provided no proof that their increased supply solution, aggressively promoted, will solve the housing crisis.
BC’s Housing Minister had the audacity to threaten to interfere with local council housing decisions. This was even though the housing crisis was caused primarily by the Provincial and Federal Governments failure to act to protect Canada’s housing market from unprecedented exploitation by foreign investment companies and speculators.
These off shore entities, with inflated currencies at their disposal, have been provided with a big advantage over Canadian citizens when it comes to purchasing land and properties. For example, a U.S. or UK resident or investment company will pay 25-50% less for a property than a resident of Canada. This is due to the currency exchange rates that have existed for most of the last 4 decades.
The BC Union of Municipalities (BCUM) unlike Oak Bay Council, have pushed back against the Province’s threatened intervention into local zoning decisions and also the Province’s and the Development and Investor Industries “supply side solution”
Council and Staff have not only lost touch with most Oak Bay residents but, also with the academic community’s proven evidence, reputable journalist’s perspectives and even their own Union, the BCUM.
A BCUM March 23, 2022 Housing Supply Report stated that housing supply in B.C. has kept pace with population growth even in Greater Victoria.
Laurey Anne Roodenburg, BCUM President
“Our report shows that local governments have been approving enough housing supply to keep pace with population growth in B.C. It is also clear that many other factors – including the ‘financialization’ of the housing market; shortages in skilled trades and materials; and multiple layers of provincial regulation - are leading to a dire shortage of attainable options for those in need of a home. Given the societal challenge before us, all levels of government and industry need to work more closely to identify and implement policies that will lead to substantive change.” Full BC Union of Municipalities Report https://www.ubcm.ca
Council however, has never let the facts get in the way of many of their decisions.
Oak Bay Watch Perspective
The evidence shows that in the last decade many communities that have introduced the densification measures Council intends to approve have not provided affordable housing or lowered rents, but have seen housing prices and rents skyrocket.
Will Oak Bay retain its high ranking of places to live? What will this Council’s legacy be?
It has been pointed out many times in reports and in media articles that for decades now the Provincial and Federal Governments have not provided housing for existing and new minimum wage workers.Their wage level prevents them from purchasing a place to live. In the next three years most of the new 1.2 million immigrants will fall into this category. To make this situation even worse our Senior Governments have sat by and allowed rents to be controlled and inflated primarily by off shore investment companies (see Oak Bay Watch Newsletter April 24, 2022).
Instead of providing adequate affordable accommodation our Senior Government’s primary housing strategy has been to promote sub-standard housing in the form of basement suites, garden sheds and converted garages (see Appendix #1). Many municipalities have fallen in line by allowing these secondary dwellings on single-family lots – Vancouver and Surrey now allow four infill units per lot.
In March 2021 Vancouver’s departing Planning Director explained, “the development community is very anxious right now because the strata condominium market has substantially changed for them over the last 18 to 24 months”. So, they've seen huge market shifts, and they want the city to obviously be part of the solution for their recovery”. There is no doubt Vancouver Council’s recent heavily protested, highly controversial development approvals show this has occurred.
This evidentially is also the reasoning behind the Development Industry’s plan, aided and abetted by the Provincial Government, to target and lobby for the densification of single-family neighbourhoods.
The Author of “Strong Towns” Charles A. Marohn states: “The development pattern used in North America through the late 1800 represents thousands of years received wisdom on how to build human habitat” For the most part the home with the white picket fence in a single-family neighbourhood has prevailed. Now the forces of development and corresponding objectives of Canada’s Senior Governments have been and are continuing to change that.
The era of massive high-rise apartments, stratified and marketed at condominium prices, basement suites, garden sheds and converted garages have become the standard. Before1950 and all through1970 living conditions and prices, relative to salaries, were much more balanced. Up to the beginning of the1980s housing, food, gas, electricity and prices in general were much more affordable for the average Canadian. Tent cities in parks were unheard of. The overwhelming environmental impact of so much densification had not yet started and it was not necessary to promote and enact Infill units on single-family lots.
Is it possible our politicians think it is sustainable to continue to densify Canada’s urban areas to accommodate 400,000 new immigrants annually, most of which will not be able to afford the inflated housing prices?
Do they really expect us to believe densifying and congesting our single-family neighbourhoods to this extent, will make things better? Some of our Council members position this term has consistently been that this zoning change is for the public good – but they haven’t said which public, or what good.
----------------------------------------------------
Nothing is inevitable if you are paying attention” Oak Bay Watch
Oak Bay Watch is a volunteer community association and its members have a variety of professional backgrounds in both the public and private sector.
*******Please help us continue to provide you with information about Community concerns and Council decisions and actions. Oak Bay Watch members also help community groups with their specific development concerns. Donate to Oak Bay Watch - even $5 or $10 dollars provides expenses for door- to- door handouts and helps us maintain our website. Oak Bay Watch is committed to ensuring the Community gets the full range of information on budget, governance and all key development issues – a well-informed opinion cannot be made without this.
(Please use Donate Button at bottom of oakbaywatch.com Home Page)
Keep informed and sign up for our newsletter – bottom of Newsletter Menu Item.
Appendix #1
Secondary Suites
It was pointed out at the September 8, 2022 meeting that Council did not provide their reason to increase the number of renters threefold in any home in Oak Bay (from two to six). And that it would be better to leave the present number at two renters. This would still provide sufficient rental income to those who need it. Also, It would provide Council with “the lay of the land” i.e. how many suite owners register, how much it will increase property taxes and traffic and it would have much less impact on the infrastructure in the short term.
Garden Suites /Sheds
(as pointed out many times by local governments: while specifications can be legislated, it’s difficult to control design).
Council’s single-family neighbourhood secondary suite and infill densification initiatives process has shown little regard for residents’ interests. Nothing stands out as much as failing to recognize the many sacrifices that so many residents made so they could buy a home in Oak Bay. Oak Bay’s, livable, uncongested and quiet single-family neighbourhoods were obviously a major factor in their choice.
However, Council intends to change these desirable qualities by amending the “ground rules”. At the September 8, 2022 Secondary Suite Public Meeting staff stated that amending the zoning to allow a secondary suite in any single-family home would add a second dwelling. In effect, the new zoning will make Oak Bay a double-family neighbourhood. Does Council really expect residents to believe that this dramatic change will not negatively impact the Community in so many ways.
Notwithstanding that secondary suites will cause so many problems, some unsolvable, for the District and residents without rental income, it Is not clear why Council members believe they have to respond to the Provincial Government’s threats to intervene if a community does not approve unwanted densification. The Province and Development industry has provided no proof that their increased supply solution, aggressively promoted, will solve the housing crisis.
BC’s Housing Minister had the audacity to threaten to interfere with local council housing decisions. This was even though the housing crisis was caused primarily by the Provincial and Federal Governments failure to act to protect Canada’s housing market from unprecedented exploitation by foreign investment companies and speculators.
These off shore entities, with inflated currencies at their disposal, have been provided with a big advantage over Canadian citizens when it comes to purchasing land and properties. For example, a U.S. or UK resident or investment company will pay 25-50% less for a property than a resident of Canada. This is due to the currency exchange rates that have existed for most of the last 4 decades.
The BC Union of Municipalities (BCUM) unlike Oak Bay Council, have pushed back against the Province’s threatened intervention into local zoning decisions and also the Province’s and the Development and Investor Industries “supply side solution”
Council and Staff have not only lost touch with most Oak Bay residents but, also with the academic community’s proven evidence, reputable journalist’s perspectives and even their own Union, the BCUM.
A BCUM March 23, 2022 Housing Supply Report stated that housing supply in B.C. has kept pace with population growth even in Greater Victoria.
Laurey Anne Roodenburg, BCUM President
“Our report shows that local governments have been approving enough housing supply to keep pace with population growth in B.C. It is also clear that many other factors – including the ‘financialization’ of the housing market; shortages in skilled trades and materials; and multiple layers of provincial regulation - are leading to a dire shortage of attainable options for those in need of a home. Given the societal challenge before us, all levels of government and industry need to work more closely to identify and implement policies that will lead to substantive change.” Full BC Union of Municipalities Report https://www.ubcm.ca
Council however, has never let the facts get in the way of many of their decisions.
Oak Bay Watch Perspective
The evidence shows that in the last decade many communities that have introduced the densification measures Council intends to approve have not provided affordable housing or lowered rents, but have seen housing prices and rents skyrocket.
Will Oak Bay retain its high ranking of places to live? What will this Council’s legacy be?
It has been pointed out many times in reports and in media articles that for decades now the Provincial and Federal Governments have not provided housing for existing and new minimum wage workers.Their wage level prevents them from purchasing a place to live. In the next three years most of the new 1.2 million immigrants will fall into this category. To make this situation even worse our Senior Governments have sat by and allowed rents to be controlled and inflated primarily by off shore investment companies (see Oak Bay Watch Newsletter April 24, 2022).
Instead of providing adequate affordable accommodation our Senior Government’s primary housing strategy has been to promote sub-standard housing in the form of basement suites, garden sheds and converted garages (see Appendix #1). Many municipalities have fallen in line by allowing these secondary dwellings on single-family lots – Vancouver and Surrey now allow four infill units per lot.
In March 2021 Vancouver’s departing Planning Director explained, “the development community is very anxious right now because the strata condominium market has substantially changed for them over the last 18 to 24 months”. So, they've seen huge market shifts, and they want the city to obviously be part of the solution for their recovery”. There is no doubt Vancouver Council’s recent heavily protested, highly controversial development approvals show this has occurred.
This evidentially is also the reasoning behind the Development Industry’s plan, aided and abetted by the Provincial Government, to target and lobby for the densification of single-family neighbourhoods.
The Author of “Strong Towns” Charles A. Marohn states: “The development pattern used in North America through the late 1800 represents thousands of years received wisdom on how to build human habitat” For the most part the home with the white picket fence in a single-family neighbourhood has prevailed. Now the forces of development and corresponding objectives of Canada’s Senior Governments have been and are continuing to change that.
The era of massive high-rise apartments, stratified and marketed at condominium prices, basement suites, garden sheds and converted garages have become the standard. Before1950 and all through1970 living conditions and prices, relative to salaries, were much more balanced. Up to the beginning of the1980s housing, food, gas, electricity and prices in general were much more affordable for the average Canadian. Tent cities in parks were unheard of. The overwhelming environmental impact of so much densification had not yet started and it was not necessary to promote and enact Infill units on single-family lots.
Is it possible our politicians think it is sustainable to continue to densify Canada’s urban areas to accommodate 400,000 new immigrants annually, most of which will not be able to afford the inflated housing prices?
Do they really expect us to believe densifying and congesting our single-family neighbourhoods to this extent, will make things better? Some of our Council members position this term has consistently been that this zoning change is for the public good – but they haven’t said which public, or what good.
----------------------------------------------------
Nothing is inevitable if you are paying attention” Oak Bay Watch
Oak Bay Watch is a volunteer community association and its members have a variety of professional backgrounds in both the public and private sector.
*******Please help us continue to provide you with information about Community concerns and Council decisions and actions. Oak Bay Watch members also help community groups with their specific development concerns. Donate to Oak Bay Watch - even $5 or $10 dollars provides expenses for door- to- door handouts and helps us maintain our website. Oak Bay Watch is committed to ensuring the Community gets the full range of information on budget, governance and all key development issues – a well-informed opinion cannot be made without this.
(Please use Donate Button at bottom of oakbaywatch.com Home Page)
Keep informed and sign up for our newsletter – bottom of Newsletter Menu Item.
Appendix #1
Secondary Suites
It was pointed out at the September 8, 2022 meeting that Council did not provide their reason to increase the number of renters threefold in any home in Oak Bay (from two to six). And that it would be better to leave the present number at two renters. This would still provide sufficient rental income to those who need it. Also, It would provide Council with “the lay of the land” i.e. how many suite owners register, how much it will increase property taxes and traffic and it would have much less impact on the infrastructure in the short term.
Garden Suites /Sheds
(as pointed out many times by local governments: while specifications can be legislated, it’s difficult to control design).
LaneWay Housing
In 2009 Vancouver City Council passed a motion to allow 70,000 single-family lots across the city to be eligible to add independent housing. The Mayor explained that this allowed owners in the city to convert their garages behind the buildings into habitable rooms for rent. The goal was to raise the city's low vacancy rate for rental units and make housing more affordable.
So how did this work out?
To date although this has substantially increased Vancouver’s housing supply, it only contributed to the City’s rapidly increasing housing prices. Long term and Airbnb rentals for these units have increased rental prices proportionate to housing prices, driving many to seek better more affordable accommodation elsewhere.